It all started in 2016 when Yankee magazine moved boldly to create a digital-first, multiplatform brand, launching both a new website, NewEngland.com and shortly thereafter, a PBS television series, now in its fourth season, Weekends with Yankee.
“Our brand might be 85 years old, but our digital-first strategy is completely 21st century. Our 25,000+ All-Access members are actively engaged across our print, digital and television content. Monthly average open rates for our premium-content email previews range between 60 and 65%—higher than anything we’ve ever seen,” said Brook Holmberg, publisher of all things Yankee.
With the launch of their new site in July 2016, website traffic has increased by an amazing 600%, from then until now, April 2020. The website enjoys a multiplicity of traffic sources including strong organic search and a popular social media presence, plus frequent visits from both free and premium email subscribers.
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Building a New Capstone Product for Digital Subscribers
We tend to look at the products a publisher offers as a multilevel media pyramid, where the bottom of the pyramid features the product with the biggest reach and typically, the lowest price point. For most publishers, the bottom of their pyramid is a free website, which in Yankee’s case is NewEngland.com. The top of the pyramid then features the most premium product.
The top of Yankee‘s multiplatform pyramid is a product called Yankee All-Access and it’s a membership package that includes six issues of their print magazine, their digital web edition with a massive travel library of back-issues, their Weekends with Yankee television show, and three curated Library Preview newsletters per week that guide premium members through the travel library and its 25+ digital collections.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in new online order volume using the collection and preview strategy crafted by our friends at Mequoda,” said Holmberg. “Our online editors have worked with Mequoda’s content marketing team to create special collections that draw directly from our magazine archive. This allows our magazine content to be showcased in a way that gives it a new life. In fact, we generate more than five times the page views from our archive content than we do from the most current issue in any given month.”
Yankee All-Access members pay $39.97 a year for the complete multiplatform suite of content. This business uses credit card continuous service with strong conversion and renewal rates that are powering a rapidly growing new revenue stream for this legacy brand.
Going 21st Century to Accommodate Digital Subscribers
Don and I would love to share what we’ve learned over the past three years working with our portfolio of terrific publishing partners. If you own a premium brand that is associated with a deep content archive, we’d love to share how our content-driven library and all-access marketing programs can double or even triple the number of digital subscriptions and memberships you sell online. Please click here to schedule a no-obligation 60-minute consultation with us to discuss the possibilities.
